發(fā)表在《美國國家科學院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ）雜志上的一項研究表明，青春期酗酒會導致今后一生的決策能力都很糟糕。

    Drink Now, Pay Later

    We all know that drinking can cloud judgment. That's why you should never e-mail an ex after you've had a few. But for teenagers, doing dumb things now because of alcohol may be just the start. Because research with animals suggests that drinking during adolescence can set you up for a whole lifetime of bad decisions. The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    People who abuse alcohol when they're young don't always make good choices as adults. But it's been unclear whether the drink gives them the stupids, or whether folks prone to poor choices are predisposed to drink.

    One way to tackle the question is by studying alcohol intake in animals, like rats. But rats don't like to drink. So to make the alcohol more palatable, scientists infused it into a tasty "gel matrix". Yes, the researchers gave teenage rats Jello shots. And the animals' decision-making ability stayed impaired well into adulthood…as measured by their tendency to chase after rewards with associated high risk rather than taking a sure thing. So, young party animals, remember the words of Faber's Dean Wormer: "Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

    今朝尋醉，明日"買單"

    我們都知道醉酒能影響我們的判斷能力。這就是為什么在你小酌幾杯之后，絕不能給你的前任伴侶發(fā)電子郵件的原因。但是對青少年來說，由于酗酒而導致當前做傻事僅僅只是個開始。因為對動物的研究表明，在青春期酗酒能導致一輩子糟糕的決策能力。該項研究發(fā)表在《美國國家科學院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ）雜志上。

    年輕時酗酒的人當他們成年后通常都不能做出很好的決策。不過，是酗酒導致他們愚笨呢？還是易于做出糟糕決策的人更喜歡酗酒呢？這個問題目前還不明白。

    解決這個問題的一種方法就是研究動物（比如老鼠）的酒精攝入量。但是老鼠不喜歡喝酒。因此為了讓酒更合口味，科學家們把酒融入到一種味道不錯的"果凍" 中。是的，研究者們給年輕的老鼠們吃果凍。隨后，科學家們讓這些老鼠追逐一些"獎品",而追逐這些"獎品"都帶有很高的風險，而不是讓它們做一些無風險的事，然后科學家們測試它們追逐"獎品"的傾向性。結果發(fā)現(xiàn)這些老鼠們的決策能力受到了損害，而且這種損害一直延續(xù)到成年期。因此，年輕的"尋歡"動物們，請記住Faber 學院Wormer系主任的話："孩子，酗酒和愚蠢絕不是經歷人生的辦法。"

    Vocabulary:

    Abuse:（酒精、藥物等）濫用

    Adolescence:青春期

    Prone:易于…的

    Predisposed:有傾向性的

    Tackle:處理

    Intake:攝入量

    Palatable:可口的

    Infuse:注入；泡

    Tasty:味美的

    Impair:損害

    注釋：

    1）Jello:指果凍。Jell-O是美國Kraft Foods公司的一個著名果凍商標品牌。

    2）Faber 指"諷刺電影 Animal House （動物屋） 中的 Faber College, Wormer 是該學院的主任。